After returning from a joint study trip to Ethiopia, Hervé Potin and Anne-Flore Guinée founded the Guinée*Potin Architectes office in the Breton city of Nantes in 2002. Their work can be described as a colorful collage of materials and concepts, united by a shared concern for ecology, energy efficiency, and the use of natural “bio” materials that surprise and go beyond established solutions.

They have received numerous awards for their innovation, and in 2015 they were nominated for the Mies van der Rohe Award for the Beautour Museum and Biodiversity Research Center, which is built from straw and wood. They also received the French National Award for Wood Construction for this building. In addition to their remarkable straw construction, their passive apartment buildings and school buildings have also been featured in numerous publications in the global media.

If we can still believe in regional architecture in the 21st century, then the Guinée*Potin firm is its noble representative.

www.guineepotin.fr